


Professional Reasons

by dizmo



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Banter, Dialogue Heavy, Gen, Handwavey Engineering, Non-Sexy Lubricant, Not THOSE Science Bros, Written Before There Was Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-05-18
Updated: 2013-05-18
Packaged: 2017-12-12 04:42:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 628
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/807370
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dizmo/pseuds/dizmo
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The best benefit to being friends with a genius biochemist is ready access to a consult when you happen to need one.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Professional Reasons

**Author's Note:**

> No, I really _can't_ wait four months or so for the show to start before I want to start in on the new characters. And yes, going off of all of two lines in a trailer and an audition video on Vimeo for an actress who _didn't_ get the part of Simmons... Watch it end up totally OOC come September, but I did my best.

Jemma Simmons was bent over a microscope and scrutinizing an extremely interesting tissue sample when an utterly familiar voice came from the direction of the lab door.

"Hey, Simmons."

She didn't even look up. "Little busy, Fitz. Actually, a lot busy."

"This won't take long. Just need your expertise."

She still didn't look up, just adjusted the zoom. "My expertise needs to finish a structural analysis of the cells I'm looking at."

"Please, Simmons. Ten seconds. It's for a thing."

She smiled, just a bit, barely visible, but kept her gaze down. "It's always for a thing. I'm still working."

"Technically, so am I. I'm just getting a consult from my favorite genius biochemist."

"Well, ask quick, then."

"Are you at least going to look up?"

"No."

"Fine. But this is _very important_."

"I'm listening."

"How slippery can you get something?"

She finally lifted her head a bit to make a notation on her worktable before wordlessly shooting Fitz an almost incredulous expression.

He paused. "You know that's not what I meant."

"Then please, what _did_ you mean?"

Fitz sighed and walked over, sitting on an empty stool and facing Simmons. "It's for professional reasons, I swear. I've managed to work up some improvements to some of the mechanical functions of the Helicarrier rotors, but with currently available industrial lubricants, actually building it to scale would cause such a heat buildup that they would catch on fire within an hour of takeoff."

"Not very effective."

"Not at all."

"So you need a better lubricant."

"Yes."

"For professional reasons."

" _Simmons_..."

She smiled, but was quiet for a moment, in thought. "What sort of temperatures are we talking?"

"Here, I have the numbers." He gestured on his tablet, sending a file from it to her worktable. "We're talking at least two hundred Kelvin over the point at which even the most high-grade lubricants break down. It puts a cap on how quick I can get them running, unless you can fix it."

"And that puts a limit on how much you can improve it."

"Yeah. Exactly."

"Well, your original question was a little off, then. You don't just need more slippery, you also need more durable."

"Can you do it?"

"I'm not--"

"Simmons, you haven't let me down before, you can't be telling me this is the first time."

"That's not what I'm saying. I'm just saying I'm not positive, but I _think_ there might be a solution. I just can't tell you for certain right now."

"Why's that?"

"Well, for one, I'm still technically working on something _else_ right now..."

"And?"

"And once I'm done with that, I'd need to get the okay to dig back into the files on the Battle of New York."

"The Battle of New York..?"

"Yeah. There was a substance used as part of what I guess you would loosely call the hydraulic system of the Chitauri flying scooter things. The chemical analysis had some interesting markers in it that I might be able to modify for what you need to do. But it's not a guarantee."

"Simmons?"

"Fitz?"

"You're a lifesaver."

Simmons laughed. "Hey, I _did_ say it wasn't a guarantee!"

"Still better than I had before I walked into the room. I owe you one."

"You owe me one pending results, you mean."

"As always."

"What's our tally up to now?"

"I think you're up by two."

"Never know. I might actually decide to cash in one of these days."

He grinned. "I'd better work on catching up, then."

"I know how you can start."

"How's that?"

"Let me get back to work."

He huffed out a little laugh of his own. "See you later, Simmons."

"Later, Fitz."

She was back looking at her sample before he was back in the hallway.


End file.
